Between summer 2017 and summer 2018, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan – Executive Director of the School of Public & International Affairs – authored or co-authored 35 policy-oriented op-eds in major news outlets, including 1 comprehensive study of the 2018 Iran uprising that was cited in official testimony before the Canadian Parliament. The articles frequently raised themes picked up by prominent American and European officials in public remarks and prior to important votes. In some instances, the articles were syndicated and translated into French and/or Farsi by third parties before being republished. Recent articles include:

*The National Interest is the leading journal associated with the realist school of foreign policy and is published by the Center for the National Interest, chaired by Henry Kissinger. The article, which was a leading article at the magazine during the 2018 Iran uprising, was coauthored with University of Michigan Professor Emeritus Raymond Tanter, a member of the National Security Council senior staff in the Regan White House.

In June 2018, Dr. Sheehan traveled to Paris as part of a research delegation examining the Iranian opposition as protests swept over Iran. Sheehan’s policy-oriented writing, scholarship, and media appearances – as well as analyses provided to policymakers in the U.S. Congress – have examined matters related to regime change in Iran. On June 29, 2018, Sheehan participated in radio, print, and television media in Paris, including interviews with talk show host Mike Siegel (syndicated by Genesis Communications Network), Al Arabiya, Iran National Television, and the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Dr. Sheehan also spoke, on background, for reporting carried out by POLITICO.

The Paris conference, carried live in the U.S. by Fox News and The Washington Times, was also broadcast inside Iran by Voice of America and featured prominently in many Arab newspapers. Dignitaries in attendance included former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich; former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey; former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, Frances Townsend, and many others.

Breaking news following the event indicated that the rally had been targeted by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) in a terror plot thwarted by authorities in Belgium, France, Germany, and Austria who worked together to foil the bombing. Five individuals, including an Iranian diplomat, who was reportedly working as an MOIS Station Chief in Vienna, were arrested after being trapped with explosives and a detonator. The plot was immediately reported on by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and NBC and addressed by senior U.S. State Department officials.

In summer 2018, Dr. Sheehan was also invited to join select, senior former U.S. officials – including Speaker Newt Gingrich, FBI Director Louis Freeh, and Attorney General Michael Mukasey – as a signatory to an open letter published in the The New York Times in support of Iranian protesters promoting democracy in Iran. Sheehan was also invited to join a group of select, distinguished U.S. officials as a signatory to an official letter sent to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the foiled terror plot launched by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) that targeted the rally for democracy in Iran held in Paris.

In July 2017, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan–Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs – traveled to Paris as part of a distinguished research delegation examining the Iranian opposition in the lead up to the second anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. The theme of the conference – regime change in Iran – was consistent with Dr. Sheehan’s policy-oriented writing, scholarship, and media appearances, as well as analyses he has provided to policymakers in the U.S. Congress.

Dignitaries in attendance included former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich; former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey; and former National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, Frances Townsend, and many others. Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, former Director of the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate in Saudi Arabia’s Intelligence Agency, pledged his commitment to regime change in Iran and expressed strong support for the Iranian resistance. Dr. Sheehan has written and spoken extensively on the concept of regime change in Iran in both scholarly and news outlets.

In June 2017, Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan – Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs – authored two prominent op-eds on U.S. policy in the Middle East. Dr. Sheehan’s scholarship on regime change and the Iranian opposition has been influential in shaping Washington’s thinking on the potential for a democratic transition in Iran.

The articles, which were shared thousands of times via social media and circulated in Washington’s policy community, raised themes that were subsequently picked up by prominent U.S. officials at international meetings during Summer 2017. Dr. Sheehan has been busy in June and July with writing, consulting, and participation in international forums. Learn more about a recent keynote address he delivered at a think-tank in Paris and stay tuned for updates on Dr. Sheehan’s involvement in a prominent U.S. delegation that traveled to Europe for the largest gathering for democracy in Iran, additional op-eds, and more.

“In the 2017 contest Iranians have again been denied an opportunity to choose from those who represent a meaningful departure from the status quo, they have been denied access to information from credible news outlets, and journalists, activists, and scholars have been denied basic freedoms widely considered staples of liberal democracy…

The Iranian regime’s rogue status and lack of legitimacy will leave whomever emerges on Friday vulnerable to a Persian Spring. As one prominent former U.S. official at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies concluded in the Wall Street Journal: History contradicts the dream of Iranian moderation so long as the existing regime is left intact.”